Author ORCID Identifier
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4634-1137
Abstract
The article analyzes the relevant thematic documents and materials with the purpose of determining the ways, means and features of the theological search of the representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (hereafter UGCC) in relation to the challenges of Russia's war against Ukraine. The principles of objectivity and confessional non-commitment became the methodological basis of the research. The hermeneutic method, system and content analysis, and the method of doctrinal verification were used. The scientific novelty of the research is determined by the appeal to a socially important hot topic, which is just beginning to be studied by scientists based on sources that have arrived mainly in recent months; the scientific novelty consists in identifying the most characteristic theological accents in the instructions, reflections and discussions of both the clergy of the UGCC and the laity, identifying the tendency of the military theme in the theological reflections of the representatives of this Church becoming very saturated, and expanding from theoretical foundations to specific issues that arise from the practice of war. The Head of the UGCC, its military chaplains, and priests and laymen who are active in media reflect on them, and these reflections become the starting points of active, with interactive feedback, discussions that expand even outside the Greek Catholic environment. Among the revealed theological accents, the following are especially emphasized: 1) the “Russian World” concept as defined by the ideology of Russian chauvinism and the justification of war; 2) the mission of Ukrainians to protect both their territories and souls, as well as the entire civilized world, from it; 3) the theological issues of the value of peace, rightly supplemented by the issues of achieving and protecting a just peace, as well as 4) issues of the value, necessity and divine inspiration of effective patriotism; 5) the value of the “Kyiv Church” traditions; 6) the theological developments of the UGCC; 7) the experience of the activity of this Church guided by them in the circumstances of armed aggression; and 8) the value of Christian optimism, which is helpful for resistance to enemies and one’s own spiritual stability and development, even in adverse and difficult conditions.
Recommended Citation
Nedavnya, Olga
(2022)
"Modern Accents of Theological Reflection of Representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Regarding the War and Its Challenges,"
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 42
:
Iss.
9
, Article 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55221/2693-2148.2392
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol42/iss9/2